The coastal area of Go Cong Dong, a major agricultural hub in Tien Giang province, has taken effective measures against drought and saltwater intrusion into rivers this year. (Source: VNA)Tien Giang (VNA) - The coastal area of GoCong Dong, a major agricultural hub in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang,has taken effective measures against drought and saltwater intrusion intorivers this year.
Ung Hong Nghi, Deputy Director of the provincialDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development, said to cope with seawaterintrusion in Go Cong Dong, the province had built dams and sluice gates to keepout saltwater and keep in freshwater during the early part of the dry seasonthis year.
The province had also set up cropping schedulesfor the 2018-2019 winter – spring crop to mitigate the damage caused bydrought, he said.
Rice fields in areas near the coast or lackingwater for irrigation had switched to drought - and saltwater- resistant cropsfor winter – spring, he added.
Nguyen Van Quy, head of Go Cong Dong district's Divisionof Agriculture and Rural Development, said farmers in the district had a bumperharvest in the winter – spring rice crop with an average yield of 6.9 tonnesper hectare.
The district’s farmers also planted more than5,000ha of other crops such as water melon, squash and gourds, earning highincomes, he said.
Nguyen Van Ga, Director of the Kieng PhuocGlobal GAP Dragon Fruit Co-operative in Go Cong Dong district’s Kieng Phuoc commune,said dragon fruits had been cultivated in recent years and it grew well in thedistrict’s coastal areas.
Farmers earned 500-600 million VND (21,530-25,840USD) per hectare of the fruit annually, he said.
Go Cong Dong farmers had turned nearly 130ha oflow-yield rice fields into dragon fruit orchards and export the fruit, he said.
Go Cong Dong often suffers from severe droughtand saltwater intrusion in the dry season, affecting rice, vegetable and fruitproduction.
Under the province’s plan to restructureagriculture in the coastal areas of Go Cong Dong from now through 2025, threerice crops will not be grown and, instead, one to two rice crops will berotated with other crops.
This is aimed at helping Go Cong Dong cope withdrought and saltwater, improving farmers’ incomes and developing agriculturesustainably.
Go Cong Dong has around 30,000ha under rice andan annual output of nearly 500,000 tonnes of paddy.
In 2016 it faced severe drought and saltwaterintrusion, which destroyed more than 5,000ha of rice and thousands of hectaresof vegetables and fruits, according to the provincial Department of Agricultureand Rural Development.-VNA
VNA
